Flipboard's new app for browsing the open social web
Social magazine app maker Flipboard is reinventing itself through the new app, Surf. Surf weaves Mastodon, Threads, Bluesky, RSS feeds, podcasts, and YouTube into something that wouldn’t have been possible until recently.
Hi PH Family,
I'm excited to share that Flipboard has unveiled Surf, a new app designed for exploring and navigating the open social web. Built to bring together decentralized networks and public content, Surf offers a fresh approach to content discovery and customization. Here’s a closer look at its features:
* Browsing the Open Social Web: Surf integrates open protocols like RSS, ActivityPub, and AT Protocol to unify content from platforms such as Mastodon, Bluesky, and Threads, along with blogs, podcasts, YouTube channels, and other public web content.
Users can easily discover, follow, and engage with a diverse range of content sources in one place.
* Customizable Feeds: Surf allows users to create highly personalized feeds tailored to specific interests, whether it’s emerging tech, fitness trends, or any niche topic.
Feeds can combine real-time searches, hashtags, RSS subscriptions, favorite creators, and more.
With 30,000 predefined topics, users can filter out unrelated content to ensure their feeds stay on topic.
* Multi-Tab Experience: Surf offers multiple ways to view content:
** Discuss: A social timeline for engaging with posts.
** Watch: Video browsing similar to TikTok.
** Read: News and article aggregation.
** Listen: Podcasts in an audio-focused format.
** Look: Photo galleries for visual exploration.
These options let users customize their browsing experience to suit their preferred content formats.
* Connecting Communities: Surf helps reunite fragmented communities by aggregating content from multiple platforms into a single cohesive feed, solving a common challenge in today’s decentralized web.
Currently, Surf is available in an invite-only beta on iOS and Android, with a desktop version on the way.
Early users include those experienced in creating curated feeds, like Twitter/X Lists or Bluesky Starter Packs.
Flipboard believes Surf marks the beginning of a new era for the social web, providing users with greater control, flexibility, and innovation in how they engage with content.
What features are you most excited about, and how do you see Surf fitting into your content discovery routine? Let me know in the comments!
Until next time,
Kumar Abhishek
About Surf on Product Hunt
“Flipboard's new app for browsing the open social web”
Surf launched on Product Hunt on December 19th, 2024 and earned 192 upvotes and 6 comments, placing #12 on the daily leaderboard. Social magazine app maker Flipboard is reinventing itself through the new app, Surf. Surf weaves Mastodon, Threads, Bluesky, RSS feeds, podcasts, and YouTube into something that wouldn’t have been possible until recently.
On the analytics side, Surf competes within Social Media, Artificial Intelligence and Tech — topics that collectively have 1.2M followers on Product Hunt. The dashboard above tracks how Surf performed against the three products that launched closest to it on the same day.
Who hunted Surf?
Surf was hunted by Kumar Abhishek. A “hunter” on Product Hunt is the community member who submits a product to the platform — uploading the images, the link, and tagging the makers behind it. Hunters typically write the first comment explaining why a product is worth attention, and their followers are notified the moment they post. Around 79% of featured launches on Product Hunt are self-hunted by their makers, but a well-known hunter still acts as a signal of quality to the rest of the community. See the full all-time top hunters leaderboard to discover who is shaping the Product Hunt ecosystem.
For a complete overview of Surf including community comment highlights and product details, visit the product overview.
Kumar Abhishek